Post 86: Swain's Interaction Hypothesis

Post 86: Swain's Interaction Hypothesis/ Swain's Comprehensible Output Hypothesis


The input is the information received in the TL (that is the second language you want to learn). The received information can be written or spoken. The output refers to any spoken or written piece of information you produce using the second language.While Krashen put a lot of emphasis on SL students receiving comprehensible input, Swain postulates that language output is just as important as input. Students have to practice speaking and have to practice English pronunciation in order to learn a language. Therefore Swain is one of those educators who disagree with Krashen by putting some more emphasis on the Learning View where students need formal practice of language pronunciation to learn a language. However, Swain agrees with Krashen that language learning should be fun and stress free. Like Krashen, Swain believes in a Learner-Centered classroom and not have a Teacher Centered classroom where the teacher does all the speaking. Swain believes that successful language learning comes from students having social interaction with each other. This Social Interaction theory is similar to the Halliday Social Interaction Hypothesis that says that social interaction is crucial to language learning.

Swain's Comprehensible Output Hypothesis

Swain suggests "that students need tasks which elicit talk at the students' i +1, that is,  a level of second language proficiency which is just a bit beyond the current second language proficiency level. She claims that such output provides opportunities for meaningful context embedded use for the second language, which allows students to test out their hypotheses about the language" (70)

Therefore output is as important as input. Input is defined as what the language learner hears from native speakers and output is when the language learner attempts to speak/write the target language. Giving students an opportunity to speak in class is just as important as providing students comprehensible input.